Halure Blossoms
by The Fragile Capricorn
Summary: Rita never thought she would be the one giving hugs to comfort another person.


**Halure Blossoms  
**_A Tales of Vesperia fanfic._

* * *

"There's always time to rest, Rita."

"I just can't believe how calm and composed you are to be saying this, considering that _you've _been dead set at finding Phaeroh not long ago."

"Well, now that I know the truth..."

Silence, then a sigh. "Don't take what he said seriously, Estelle."

Estelle lowered her eyes. The beauty of Halure's blossoms evaded her. She didn't notice them. She didn't care. If those blossoms would disappear one day, she knew she would be the cause. And she knew that, because Phaeroh told her that. What else was she to believe? She sought the Entelexeia to discover the truth, and the truth had been hard to take, but she took it anyway. It was part of her.

"Estelle."

Estelle didn't speak. Suddenly, she felt sad. Not sad because she was unwanted by the strong, ancient Entelexeia. Not because she was billed as an insipid poison (she took her title lightly - titles were nothing, after all). But because, one day, the world she was living in would be a better place without her. It made her feel insignificant. It made her feel unimportant. It made her feel like no one cared about her. Just when Rita and she were becoming better friends than they expected.

"Are you okay, Estelle?"

Rita reached out to feel Estelle's forehead, to see if there was something wrong with her, but Estelle put Rita's hand away. Around them, the leaves from the large tree fell slowly and gracefully, like pink snowflakes. A clump settled on Rita's lap. She toyed with the leaves for a moment as the two of them sat in silence.

"I'm sorry," Rita began, to Estelle's surprise. "I never treated you right, right? I've always been so caught up with my studies about the blastia, with my own obsessions, that I become... numb to other's feelings. Honestly, I don't really care about the old geezer, the dog, the dumb kid, or the ex-knight, or even the Krityan. I joined because I thought I could see more of the world, further pursue my studies."

Estelle looked at Rita with wonder, as she skillfully manipulated the pink leaves and created something that resembled a rose, or its petals, at least. A half-smiled played across Rita's face. Rita handed the leaf creation to Estelle, who took it reluctantly.

"I never thought I'd bee finding a friend like you, to be honest."

Estelle smiled back. Rita continued.

"I'm sorry, Estelle. I'm sorry if I can't make you feel better, and I'm sorry if I can't keep Phaeroh from saying you're some kind of poison, and I'm sorry if I let you do crazy things sometimes. And I'm sorry if I'm a little too overprotective. It's just that..." Rita took a deep breath. "It's just that I've never had a _real _friend before."

"Oh, Rita."

A faint flush of pink flooded Rita's cheeks as she attempted to give Estelle a stiff, voluntary hug - something which she hasn't done before ever in her life, seeing that it was Estelle who loved giving hugs. Lately, though, Rita noticed that Estelle wasn't her usual perky self, and the hugs went from occasional to never. Rita kept reminding herself that it shouldn't bother her, but it did. And she had to do it. She felt uncomfortable, more so when Estelle didn't try to hug back. But she felt ease envelope the other girl, and Rita closed her eyes, pleased that she finally felt appreciated. For once.

Rita smiled. "I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I'm always here for you. I will always be here for you."

* * *

_**Author's Note: **First fanfic after a couple of months! I finished ES earlier and thought, hey, I want to continue ToV. So I did. And I just can't get enough of Rita and Estelle's friendship partly because it somehow reminds me of my relationship with my best friend (with I being the overprotective, sometimes-insensitive, sorry-for-everything person). Also, I love Halure. Put the two of them together and hello, new fanfic! So yeah, this is partly the product of my missing my best friend right now. Here's to hoping that she's missing me as much, too. And, well, hey, I hope you enjoyed this. :D_


End file.
